Slipped Away
by Becausethat'sthething
Summary: I'm not used to writing things like this, so I'm sorry if I suck. Anyway, set after MR3. The flock is at Dr. Martinez's house, and Max is grieving over her brother's death. Pretty OOC, but who isn't after a death? Now a Oneshot.


Why'd they take him away?

I was just starting to- to trust him, and they- they killed him! He was my brother! Looking down at the corpse below me, I felt sad, and angry, and upset, and I really felt like punching something. Really and truly.

I stifled a sob as I grabbed onto his pale hand. It was dead, cold. Holding on as tightly as I could, I willed, begged for him to come back. Somehow, he had to come back. But he couldn't. Not today. Not ever. Because they killed him. Those stupid whitecoats! They always ruined EVERYTHING!

He'd never been happy. My brother had never, in his short life, been happy. Content, sure. But not happy. And they worst part was knowing that I had caused so much of that unhappiness, most of it. They'd changed him because of me. He had been fatherless because of me. It was all my fault.

I was muttering under my breath and rocking on my bare heels, still holding onto his hand. "All my fault, all my fault. I'm so sorry, Ari. It was my entire fault." Before I knew it, a rough calloused hand was on my shoulder.

"Max, it's not. Don't even try to blame this on yourself," Fang whispered to me, but it wasn't harshly. I could fear the tears streaming down my face, and I couldn't hold it in anymore. It was too much. The sobs racked my entire being and the tears soaked my face. Fang held on to me, cradling me gently. He was trying to comfort me. But I couldn't be comforted. Not now. Not with HIM gone.

"B-but, he d-died t-t-trying to s-s-s-save me! My f-f-f-f-fault!" I stuttered, sobbing all the while. And it was true. He had died in battle, protecting me. And it was all my fault. Jeb came our way, and I growled at him. I leaped over my brother's body, covering him completely with my body.

"Max, what are you doing?" he asked, his eyes puffy and red. He reached forward. I growled again. But it sounded wrong. It sounded desperate.

"NO! Get away from him! He's my brother!" I screamed, and Fang looked at me sympathetically. Was that a tear in his eye?

"HE WAS MY SON!!!" he roared, advancing. Fang got up, looking eerily calm.

"Jeb, get away from her. NOW," he said, glaring. Jeb nodded, and scurried off.

"Thanks," I whispered, and went back to sobbing. At one point, I heard the flock come out of Dr. Martinez's house.

I knew I shouldn't let the flock see me like this, but there was nothing I could do about it. I wouldn't have been able to stop even if I tried. I was in too deep. So I continued sobbing into Fang's shoulder.

"M-Max?" I heard Angel's quivering voice no more than 3 feet behind Fang and me. I looked up and tried to smile reassuringly at her, but it came out as a grimace. _Dang it, Max,_ I thought. _Pull yourself together! The flock is right there!_

"No," Angel protested. "Don't act, Max. We'll always love you. You can cry. We don't mind; we want you to let it out. Right, guys?" she asked. The flock nodded, and Nudge let out a little "mmm-hmmm!"

And then, I heard something. Fang. Fang was whispering.

"And I'm sorry I couldn't trust you, Ari. It wasn't your fault. And I'm sorry for that. Thank you, Ari, for being there for Max when I couldn't. I was a hard-headed, self-conceded, arrogant pig when I left and it was cowardly of me to-"

The emotion in his voice got to me. I interrupted him. "Don't say that, Fang. You were trying to be safe," I muttered, knowing only Fang- and maybe Iggy- could hear. Fang shook his head mutely. "Fang, don't even start that with me."

"Max, it's true. I left. I left you alone and you had to watch your brother die. I'm sorry, Max," he whispered. "Let me finish."

"Ari, I'm sorry I was so mean to you. I'm sorry that I repeatedly tried to kill you. I mean, what was I thinking?!? You were only seven. And I was so- so mean to you." He began to stutter, and that scared me out of my wits. But his words, the fact that he honestly cared sent me over the edge.

"Oh, Fang!" I cried, flinging my arms around his neck. He looked at me quizzically, but then wrapped his arms around my waist and put his forehead on my shoulder. He started sniffling, and before long his tears were soaking my shirt. I tentatively put my hand in his dark hair and leaned over him, too. We were both on our knees, crying our eyes out over each other. I felt Angel approach us and wrap her arms around the two of us. _I'm sorry you have to see us this way, Angel, _I told her mentally. Fang must've said the same thing because-

"Stop it! Both of you, stop it! I don't care if you cry!" she yelled defensively. Fang and I winced. "I don't like seeing you sad, heck, I've never even SEEN you sad, Fang, but that doesn't mean the two of you have to pretend nothing happened!" She was crying freely now.

"I'm so-" I started, but, for like the thousandth time today, I was interrupted. Goodness. Will they ever let me finish my sentences?

"Stop saying sorry! I don't care!" she blubbered. She fell back onto her knees and wrapped her arms around us again. I put her in between Fang and me. The three of us were sobbing, as were the others in the flock.

Nudge started talking then. "Why'd Ari die? He was a good kid. I mean sure, he was evil and all that, but he turned nice. I really-"

"Nudge…" Iggy warned in a fatherly tone. "Don't. Just don't okay?" I looked up to see tears glistening in his sightless blue eyes. Nudge was nodding, tears all over. Gaz was trying to be strong-_my little trooper_-but seeing his parental figures (Fang and me) broken was killing him. It was killing all of them. I gave them all a watery smile, saying in a faux Southern drawl, "Come 'ere, guys."

Gasman, Nudge, Iggy, and even Total came running forward, crashing our little sob-fest.

I was never going to be the same again, especially after this. Ari had changed me, I knew it. And I wasn't about to deny it. Here, with the flock's arms all around me, I knew that he was watching me, somewhere. And I know that sounds really cheesy, but it was true. It was like I could feel his presence in the humid air. _Or maybe I'm insane. _

_You aren't insane, _Angel told me. _I feel it too. So does Fang. _I smiled. Angel was the greatest little kid. And to think Ari was only a year older than her.

My head was still on Fang's shoulder, and I was still crying, but Fang had picked his head up from my shoulder. His glance was switching from me to Ari, as if he didn't know what he should look at. Iggy's arms were around me in a brotherly hug, and his head was on my back. Nudge was sitting on the dirt, her head on Fang's lap. Fang was absentmindedly playing with her unruly hair. Gazzy was on my lap, and Angel was squished in between Fang and me. It was quite the scene. It made me realize how much I needed and loved my flock, and a fresh round of tears started all over again.

Fang pulled the arms he had around my waist tighter, as did Iggy. Gazzy flung his arms around my neck, and Angel stood there crying, knowing what I was thinking about. Nudge, from Fang's lap, reached out and put her arms around my leg. I whispered, "Thanks," shakily, and kept on crying.

What seemed like hours later, but really was only minutes, Mom-Dr. Martinez-came out. She saw us all sitting there, crying our eyes out and gasped. I looked down at Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel who had all fallen asleep. I signaled down at them with my head, and Mom nodded. Iggy seemed to realize they were asleep, so he whispered, "I'll take Gazzy and Nudge. Let Dr. M take Angel."

"Thanks, Ig. Go on ahead." I told him gratefully. He grimaced for a second, before I asked him what was wrong.

"It's just- you gonna be okay?" he asked quietly. I smiled. I put his hand on my face to show him that I was. He pulled back, startled. "Wet. Tears?" he asked. I laughed and told him "yeah."

He picked up Nudge and Gazzy, and Mom ran forward to get Angel. When the two were on their way, Fang stood up. I held out my hand, feeling helpless. "No. Don't-" I couldn't even finish before he sat down in front of me again. He took one look at my face and picked me up off the ground, putting me on his lap. I was too sad, too tired, too numb to care, or to say some witty comment. I was too…morose. So I just let Fang watched me as I lamented over my little brother. Minutes later, I picked myself off his lap. I made my way over to Ari and grabbed his hand again. I kissed his hand, and his fingers, and then reached over and kissed his cheek, his nose, his forehead. Fang stared at me, eyes puffy and red.

"Thanks Ari. For everything. I mean, I didn't like you, until a while ago. You were always just a cute kid following my favorite adult around to me. I never thought about you after we left, and I just barely registered your face when you came back. Because I was selfish, I didn't even notice you were gone. I didn't realize that it would kill you to have your dad gone. I'm sorry. And now it's my fault you died and-" I kept ranting until…

"Max," Fang growled. "It is NOT your fault. You need to realize that. Okay? Stop beating yourself up. That's my job." I smiled a little at his joke, but just barely. He continued. "The whitecoats killed him. Not you. Did you put those horrendous numbers on his neck? No! So just stop it." I hugged Fang around his neck, and he hugged me back, surprisingly.

And then, guess what?

It started raining. But we sat there, hugging each other. Because, you know what? We didn't care. Because my arms were around him, and his were around me, and we were both crying our eyes out. And if anybody had a probable with the random teenagers in the woods with their arms around each in the rain, they would have to deal. Because we didn't care. We didn't care.


End file.
